Keith Olbermann pinned the honor on him 8/17 for his remarks about Cindy Sheehan.

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Keith :

But the winner -- oh, it's the irrepressible Rush Limbaugh. On the radio, he said, quote, "Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents. There's nothing about it that's real."

I guess she made up that dead-son-in-Iraq business! He also referred to her supporters as "dope-smoking FM types." I guess the painkillers wipe out your memory along with your ethics. Rush Limbaugh, today's worst person in the world!

"I misspoke"

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Crook and Liars
perseverance pays off. We called CNN and demanded an on-the-air apology by Novak himself because of the lie he spread about Howard Dean. Earlier in the week Judy Woodruff issued an apology for Novak's lie, but we felt that wasn't enough. We called and spoke to a PR person who said they would talk to the producers of Inside Politics and get back to us. We promised that we would not go away.

Since Novak claimed on February 26 edition of CNN's The Capital Gang: "Howard Dean gave a speech at Cornell on Thursday of this week in which he said that 80 percent -- over the years, 80 percent of the Social Security benefits will be lost." Then he repeated the lie on Inside Politics the following Monday. Off course Dean actually said: "if Social Security were left alone for 30 years, benefits would be reduced to 80 percent of what it is now." The GOP repeated his lie with video on their website (scrubbed now) and subsequently Rush Limbaugh used the same quote on 3/3. Novak came on the air today and apologized saying: "On Monday I said, I misspoke myself...what I meant to say..."

We know that he knew the actual quote being a seasoned "journalist," but chose to try and tarnish Dean with a lie. Also he claimed to have said it on Monday only, which of course is not true. The fact that he got on the air at all shows what can be done if we put our minds to it. Media Matters was on top of the story as well and proved invaluable in getting Novak to denounce himself. Thanks to all that called and emailed their concerns to CNN.

(Update-many feel it wasn't a good enough apology. We do agree. He still tried to say that Dean didn't "toe" the party line, which of course is incorrect. However, we still feel that it was important to get him to acknowledge his lie on the air, "something that had to kill him to do," even in the under handed way that he did it. We never expected him to admit much more. We tried our best.)

Kansas Republican Todd Tiahrt isn't known for being very bright, or brave. This past spring, Tiahrt was one of many Republicans who feebly attempted to stand up to their party's leader, Rush Limbaugh, only to come crawling back days later apologizing and kissing his ring.

Now, Tiahrt has decided to stand up to the evil Socialists, President Obama and Nancy Pelosi by proposing a plan that would repeal federal stimulus funds for his state -- which would be a total disaster and force the state to make massive cuts to their budget which is already hurting with the stimulus money:

U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, has a bill to repeal funding under the federal stimulus.

Of Kansas’ six-member congressional delegation, only U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, whose district includes east Lawrence, voted for the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. All five Republicans voted against it.

But Tiahrt, who is running for U.S. Senate, has ratcheted up the rhetoric, producing a campaign ad against the stimulus program that asks viewers to help him stop President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

State officials said without the stimulus funds, Kansas would be hurting worse. Read on...

Apparently, Tiahrt learned nothing from Republican Governor Mark Sanford's abysmal failure in South Carolina when he tried to do the same thing. Sanford got hammered from both Republicans and Democrats in his very red state and chances are, Tiahrt would meet the same fate.

The Art of the Possible: Let's look at the question of Vice-Presidentialism on the Democratic side.

Once Upon a Time: Arthur continues to demonstrate why he's considered by many of us to be one the best.

The Moderate Voice: ESPN fires Mark Madden for Kennedy assassination remarks. Apparently sports fans are more discerning than the pea-brained dittoheads who listen to wingmutt radio. Rush Limbaugh got that message in a hurry a few years ago.

skippy the bush kangaroo: Time to stop buying donuts - an action alert

Best wishes to Libby Spencer

HOLY CRAP: Pentagon-connected ministry is electioneering and Obama-bashing...Who profits from "Biblical Capitalism"?...A traditional news outlet finally notices the religious elephant in our political living room...The real impact of the Hagee-McCain divorce...Faith Factor Factbox...The General's Ride...Louisiana dragging science ed. back into the swamp...Beyond Belief...Clinging to the Crucifix...Bible study for atheists

The Heritage Foundation provides a forum where Rush Limbaugh can kiss "24" actresses.

Boiling Point Blog: "How exactly does one qualify to be a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, anyway? Because my deranged electric-cord chewing cat could really use a job."

OMB Watch: "One wonders what kind of pharmaceuticals the Heritage Foundation is into these days..."

Open Thread below.... And don't forget we've got that fabulous CNN/Myrtle Beach Debate open thread going at the same time....

Rush Limbaugh went after a young HS graduate on his radio show because she broke down and cried talking about the environment and Global Warming.

via email:

An 18-year-old Inuit from Alaska sobbed through her congressional testimony before Edward Markey's committee this morning as she described Global Warming's disastrous effects on her community. Of course, Rush Limbaugh didn't hesitate to attack her on his radio show today.

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The Gavel has the video of her testimony.

Lockwood:...just through my lifetime I've seen so many changes in our communities that it just hurts, it's really scary to lose our tradition, our culture. We've been living here for thousands of years and it's not just that we're losing our food, it's losing our homes because we are spiritually connected and emotionally and physically connected to our homes. There are so many communities that are in trouble. It's an emergency, we need to take action now."

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(Photo of hands warming up on a cuppa hot coffee via di+mars.)

The Sunday Talking Head thread is up and ready for perusal this morning.  It's a whole lotta Iraq and bloviating, and not much else, frankly.  But there could be some interesting sparks on CNN's Late Edition if Rep. Tom Lantos gets asked about why Rush Limbaugh is an ill-informed, bloviating moron.  (Here's hoping Blitzer gives him the chance...but I'm not exactly holding my breath.)   I wanted to highlight a story from Nova Scotia that one of my readers (Audrey -- thanks!) linked up in my comments.  It makes for much better Sunday morning contemplation.  Via the Chronicle Herald:

Two students at Central Kings Rural High School fought back against bullying recently, unleashing a sea of pink after a new student was harassed and threatened when he showed up wearing a pink shirt.

The Grade 9 student arrived for the first day of school last Wednesday and was set upon by a group of six to 10 older students who mocked him, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up.

The next day, Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price decided something had to be done about bullying.

"It’s my last year. I’ve stood around too long and I wanted to do something," said David.

They used the Internet to encourage people to wear pink and bought 75 pink tank tops for male students to wear. They handed out the shirts in the lobby before class last Friday — even the bullied student had one.

"I made sure there was a shirt for him," David said....

So, what's catching your eye in the news and on the blogs this morning?

Arvin Hill: American jurisprudence gone BUCK-wild!  (Although sometimes it’s nice to hear from a Vogon, as opposed to the usual Krikkiters.) 

Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus, on losers, leftnecks, and trench liberals: “So the party of Roosevelt begins to dimly understand that now is the opportunity to re-associate itself with populism. The problem is that Democratic Party ‘leadership’ has no notion of what populism means.” 

Then again, asks Alternate Brain, how do you get through to the 60-year-old man who told Michael Moore he’d “rather have no insurance than socialized medicine”?  Badtux the Snarky Penguin has one compelling argument. 

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Whiskey Fire: Liberal hawks, and why it's "perfectly right to judge people writing on foreign policy primarily on their stances towards real world issues."

Sadly, No!: Conservapedia is offering prizes such as "The Moses Award" and "The Gipper Award" for what they consider good new articles. Sadly, No! helpfully suggests a few more.

Drinking Liberally in New Milford: An update on a story Rush Limbaugh won't be covering any time soon. Any takers in the MSM?

The Commission: Bush cultists or diehard sports fans?

Abu Ghraib Watch: Sy Hersh's latest feature raises new questions. What were the interagency tensions? What's still on the table? Most importantly, what did Bush and Rumsfeld know, and when did they know it?

Guest round up by Batocchio (batocchio9 AT yahoo DOT com).

The Heretik: Would you classify car bombs that kill people as 'violence'? The Bush administration doesn't

The Spy Who Billed Me: An exclusive interview with Blackwater USA's president, Gary Jackson. A lot of softball questions and evasive responses, but still interesting...

INSTAPUTZ: As memories of the country ass-whippin' suffered by the GOP in the 2006 midterms recede, the Ole Perfesser's determined denial increases. Now he claims Iraq had nothing to do with the outcome!

This is the world as perceived by Rush Limbaugh, a world absent of meritocracy where minorities gain on reverse racism and whites are unfairly punished merely for skin color.

Danger Room: Nuke lab gives secrets to stoners

David E’s Fablog: I Heart Huckabees...d r i f t g l a s s has more